Alumnus Nathan Bomey to present March 24

Nathan Bomey, a reporter at The Detroit Free Press and 2006 Eastern Michigan University journalism and political science alumnus, will give a presentation about how he covered the Detroit Bankruptcy Monday, March 24 from 5:30-7:00 p.m. in Pray-Harrold room 213. The event is presented by EMU’s journalism program, the Department of English, EMU Student Media and the Department of Political Science.

Formerly a reporter for AnnArbor.com, Bomey got his start as many other EMU journalism students have in the past – at The Eastern Echo. At the Echo, Bomey served as the news editor. Today, he covers Detroit and the American auto industry – specifically General Motors – for The Detroit Free Press.

In September 2013, Bomey teamed up with a fellow reporter at The Free Press, John Gallagher, to write an enterprise story about Detroit’s bankruptcy entitled “How Detroit Went Broke.”

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Bomey will speak about covering the bankruptcy, from the personal interviews he conducted to the mounds of data he analyzed and compiled to create an all-encompassing explanation for Detroit’s bankruptcy.

Associate professor in EMU’s journalism department, Carol Schlagheck, recalled how Bomey excelled in his time at the university.

“I met Nathan when he took my Honors JRNL 215 (news writing and reporting),” Schlagheck said in an email Tuesday. “He always kept up with current events, he read The New York Times every day and his writing was meticulous. Later, he became one of the toughest reporters ever to work for the Echo. He still is the only student ever to earn a perfect score in my advanced reporting class. It’s been a joy to watch him find success in a difficult field.”